Judges chapter 14, as I was looking
over, drawing a text from different
passages of Judges, there's 12 Judges total that judge the nation
Israel, as I mentioned, the first hour to us and time would escape
us to go through all of them. But I came upon Samson and I
noticed Samson's life is Very paralleled, you can look at many
different aspects of what Samson accomplished in his life as the
Lord Jesus Christ and conquering our sin and putting it away and
by his death, you know, as even at the end. But as I was studying,
I came upon Judges chapter 14. In verse five of this account,
and it says, then went Samson down and his father and his mother
to Timnath. And it came to the vineyard,
and came to the vineyards of Timnath, and behold, a young
lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came
mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid. And he had nothing in his hand,
but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.
And he went down and talked with the woman." He was going down
to after this Philistine woman to pursue her in marriage. And
he says he went down and talked with the woman and she pleased
Samson well. After a time, he returned to
take her and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion
and behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass
of the lion. And he took thereof in his hands
and went on eating and came to his father and mother and he
gave them and they did eat, but he told them not He told not
them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. Now it's important to mention
that temnath here means portion. It means portion and certainly
the Lord, we see him condescending to earth as in the form of a
man and we being the Lord's portion as he condescended unto the earth,
we have been given unto the Lord as his elect people and he redeemed
his people. So I wanna look at this passage
of scripture in two different aspects. Number one, we see the
Lord Jesus Christ himself having nothing in his hand, successfully
accomplishing our salvation by rending Satan in two, by rending
the young lion that roared against him. Peter in 1 Peter 5, 8 likens
Satan into a lion. He says, be sober, be vigilant
because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about
seeking whom he may devour. So first I want to look at this
lion being Satan and the Lord Jesus Christ being Samson. And
second of all, I want us to see that the lion is the Lord Jesus
Christ who could be likened to the Lord Jesus Christ being slain
by his father and having the honey inside for his people.
That's how I've titled this message actually is sweeter than honey.
I love the fact, seeing the Lord Jesus Christ here as Samson,
rending this young lion in two, just as a kid, as a baby goat,
as nothing. It was not hard for Samson to
conquer this lion, just as it was not difficult for the Lord
to conquer Satan. Satan is God's devil. Satan is
not an opponent of the Lord, because it's already finished.
Everything that's going to be accomplished is already done.
He is certainly our adversary, but in Christ Jesus, we have
the victory because the Lord Jesus Christ, in the death of
Himself, rent Satan into as a kid. We see that Satan has been conquered
for the Lord's people, that death, hell, and the grave has been
overthrown, and the Lord has given us this honey that we may
feast upon forever, the sweetness of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
order for you and I to obtain this honey, it must be noted
that honey is made by bees. And I found it interesting to
think about Samson reaching in and it doesn't say anything about
the bees stinging Samson. Doesn't say anything about that,
does it? Do you know why? Because the sting of death, the strength
of sin is the law and the strength of the law is death. So we see
that sin entered and death by sin because the law was given
and you and I have been stung by the law, but the Lord Jesus
Christ was perfect, wasn't he? He was perfect in giving us this
honey. He did have to be born of a woman, born under the law,
but it doesn't mention that Samson was stung at all, because Samson,
our Samson, the Lord Jesus Christ, hath put away our sin. In order
for you and I to eat of the honey, though, we have to be stung,
and we certainly are stung in the flesh by the law. When the
gospel goes forth, it shows forth that we are nothing but sin,
born in sin, shaped into iniquity, and yet, The Lord hath put away
that sting of death. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? Even the devil cannot... Remember
when the children of Israel were coming out of the land of Egypt?
It says not even a dog could move its tongue against them.
They couldn't even bark. Satan cannot roar against the children
of Israel, save that the Lord Jesus Christ gives him permission
to do so. The Lord Jesus Christ has the
devil on a leash. He owns the devil. The devil
can't do anything against him or the Lord's people unless the
Lord allows him to do so. You remember the account of Job,
whenever the Lord, it said the sons, this talks about how the,
they came before the Lord is what the scripture says, and
Satan came with them. Satan came with him and began
to accuse Job and said, the only reason that Job is not sinned
against you is because you have a hedge built about him. You
remember that? And the Lord said, okay, I'll remove the hedge and
you can do this and this, but you can't do this and that. Well,
that didn't do the job. So Satan comes back to him and
asked a second time. And he says, well, you can do anything to
him, but you just can't take his life or his children's life. And Satan
takes full advantage of that, don't he? You find great comfort
in knowing that every account of your life, everything that's
happening, not only has it been purpose, but nothing new is going
to happen to you that the Lord has not purpose from the foundation
of the world. He has you in Christ Jesus. The
Lord says in John chapter 10, He said, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. We are in Christ Jesus in his hand. He said, my
father, which gave them me is greater than all. And no man
is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. So I've said
this to us before, but we're in Christ and Christ is in God. Nothing can come to us that doesn't
pass through his hand. We can take comfort in knowing
that it's goodness and mercy. Goodness and mercy is what the
Lord has for his people. The honey, the sweetness of his
gospel. We have the goodness and mercy
of God. So we see, that the honey is
the word of God. Now, interestingly enough, honey
is likened in Revelation chapter 10 as being bitter to the belly.
John says, I took a little book, the little book out of the angel's
hand and ate it up. And it was in my mouth, sweet
as honey. And as soon as I'd eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Our spiritual man, as we heard the first hour, the two natures
we have, our spiritual man loves the sweetness of the Lord's gospel,
but it gives no glory to this flesh whatsoever. It's bitter
to this flesh. It's condemning to this flesh.
It shows that the flesh is utterly desolate, utterly destitute,
deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. And yet the believer
loves to eat of this honey because it's the only good news that
there is for the salvation of sinners. It's the only good news. That's the Lord's honey. In Psalm
119, verse 103, he says, how sweet are thy words unto my taste,
yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. How sweet the Lord is
in his glorious gospel. He's sweeter than honey, isn't
he? Turn with me to Psalm 19. Psalm 19. Verse one, the heavens declare
the glory of God, and the firmament showeth forth, showeth his handiwork. Everywhere that you look, everything
that you behold, and I mentioned this Wednesday night, I believe
it was, but the beauty of all these trees and everything that
we see, the trees are dying, do we know that? They're literally
dying, and it's necessary for the cycle of life to take place
that the Lord has ordained, but the only thing that's beautiful
in death of the believer is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we see him so much more magnificent than all these dead and dying
trees, but yet to the believer, we get to look around everywhere
we go. Because we've tasted of this
honey, we get to see all of the Lord's handiwork for his people. We get to see all of the Lord's
glory displayed in nature for his people. And because of this
honey, we get to see the glory of the Lord in salvation. That's
the good news to you and I. Look with me at verse seven.
The law of the Lord is perfect. converting the soul. The testimony
of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Weren't you glad
for that verse? Makes wise the simple. I'm simple.
I need a simple gospel. I don't need it to be complicated.
I don't need it to be, I need to understand it. And the
only way I can understand it is if it's simple. God elected
a people. God gave those people unto his
son and his son redeemed those people. and God the Holy Spirit
regenerates those people. This is the honey of the Lord
I'm talking about. This is the honey. The statutes
of the Lord in verse eight are right. Rejoicing the heart, the
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear
of the Lord is clean, endearing forever. The judgments of the
Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey in the
honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant
worn, and in keeping of them there is a great reward. Who
can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults."
What David's saying right here is this beautiful law that the
Lord has given as much, it's desired more than gold, it's
sweeter than honey, but who can keep it? If you can keep it,
there's great reward, but who can keep it? Who can understand
the errors? Cleanse me from my secret faults.
He said, even if I tried to keep it, I couldn't keep it because
of my secret faults. And that's the sweetness of the gospel,
is that the Lord keeps his people. The Lord kept everything for
his people. Keep back thyself. Keep back thy servants also from
presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over
me. Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from
the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
my strength and my Redeemer." This acknowledgement of who the
Lord is in keeping his people, in acknowledging of him being
the Redeemer, in acknowledging of him being the strength of
David, this is the sweetness of the gospel. Only the Lord
can show forth this honey unto his people and cause you to taste
it and cause you to love the taste thereof and say, the Lord's
my strength, the Lord's my Redeemer, the Lord hath redeemed. Now,
back to Judges. Oh, I'm sorry, 1st Samuel, Chapter
14. Got ahead of myself. When the scripture talks about
honey, More times than not, it is mentioned that he will bring
his people unto the land flowing with milk and honey. Now, you
know this from what Paul's accounts was, that you being babes desire
the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. This
milk and honey is the exact same thing. The milk is the life-giving
sustenance. As a babe in Christ, as being
born again, it is the gospel. Someone talked to me recently
and told me that what we preach here is the meat of the gospel
and they can't understand it. They don't want to dabble in
that, that they want it more simple. It's the very foundation. It's the milk. It's the most
necessary thing, most life-giving thing that we could possibly
do is declare this gospel. It is the honey, which is the
richness of Christ and the depths that we cannot fathom and we
can never attain to how how much, how deep the Father's love is
for us. And yet it's the milk. It's simple
for you and I to understand through and by the revelation by the
Holy Spirit. It's the life-giving milk, just
like a baby has to have milk. That's exactly what it is. It's
also the meat. We're never gonna outgrow this
gospel. We're never gonna get past it. It's necessary every
time we gather together to be reminded in order for us to taste
of the Lord, of His honey, of His milk, It's what we have to
have, it's what we live off of. Now we're in 1 Samuel chapter
14. Look at verse six with me. As
most of the accounts in Samuel, the children of Israel fight
against the Philistines again. Philistines were a thorn in the
flesh of the Lord's people, but you can find the Philistines
all the way back when they first come to land of Canaan at the
beginning of Judges. They were supposed to destroy
every inhabitant of the land of Canaan, and they chose not
to do that. You and I can't destroy every
inhabitant that we are. We can't destroy this flesh,
but Christ Jesus, he fulfilled everything necessary for our
salvation being in the flesh. Now in 1 Samuel chapter 14, Jonathan
is going to go up They're hoping to go up over the Philistines,
and he says in verse four, I'm sorry, in verse six, and Jonathan
said to his young man that bear his armor, come and let us go
over into the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that
the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the
Lord to save by many or to save by few. Now, I love the declaration
that Jonathan says right there. There is no restraint. He's not
limited. He's not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness. He's not limited in any way.
He's not restrained in any way. He's not controlled or manipulated. He's not dictated to. He's not
even threatened, not even threatened by you and I. He's not threatened
by the devil. He's not threatened by the world.
This is God's world. You are God's, whether you're
elect or you're not, you're still God's person. He owns you. acknowledge
it or not. In Christ, we have eternal life,
but either way, He's going to do with you whatsoever He will,
and He's going to do with me whatsoever He will. Nothing that we can do can alter
that in any way. And that is sweet to my taste,
to know that I cannot mess up the salvation of the Lord, to
know that I cannot change Him. I cannot let Him do something.
I cannot help Him do something. I cannot prevent him from doing
something. He's God. He's God. And it may be, it may
be, as he said here, that the Lord may work for us. That's
not unbelief of Jonathan speaking there, saying, okay, well, I'm
gonna do this and obligate the Lord. That's not what he's saying.
He's actually acknowledging maybe the Lord will help us. Maybe
the Lord will work for us. Maybe the Lord will get the victory
over this life. Maybe he'll do all these things
because there is no restraint to him, whether it be to save
by many or saved by few. Well, brethren, we already know
that he saved by few. He saved by one, didn't he? Scripture
says in Hebrews 9, verse 12, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. So by one
man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. He saved by few, didn't he? Singular
number, actually, it's more than a few, or less than a few, it's
just one. Christ Jesus faced this lion
alone. He faced our, he became sin for
his people and faced this lion alone, and he rent it in two.
He conquered death all by himself. All by himself, he did that for
his people. Now look in verse 24. And the men of Israel were distressed
that day, for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be
the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be
avenged of my enemies. So none of the people tasted
any food. And all they of the land came to a wood, and there
was honey upon the ground. When the people were come to
the wood, behold, the honey dropped, but no man put his hand to his
mouth, for the people feared the oath. Now, can we see how
we, by nature, we were dead in trespasses and in sin, and we
could not eat the honey? That's what this is a picture
of. Why? Because of the King's word. If
you eat of the honey, you'll die. We couldn't be partakers
of eternal life. We could not be partakers of
the gospel had the Lord Jesus Christ not completed the work.
He had to do it all in order for us to taste. What the honey
represents is the finished work of Christ, Him doing it all,
every bit of it. and us doing nothing, us just
being the benefactors of it, us just being able to partake
of it. And let's read on. Verse 27, but Jonathan heard
not when his father charged the people with the oath, wherefore
he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped
it in a honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth and his eyes
were enlightened. His eyes were enlightened. This
is the same enlightenment that we read from Psalm just a few
moments ago. Whenever you have tasted this
honey, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's what the
honey does. When the gospel goes forth, it reveals Christ. It
quickens. It makes alive. It is the life-giving
sustenance. As I mentioned before, the milk
and honey is the life-giving sustenance to the believer, and
we have to have it. We have to have it because we
see that it's the only thing that quickens us. It's the only
thing that makes us alive. God's honey opens the eyes of
his people. It's sweet, brethren, it's sweet.
Now look in verse 42. And Saul said, cast lots between
me and Jonathan, my son. And Jonathan was taken. Then
Saul said to Jonathan, tell me what thou hast done. And Jonathan
told him and said, I did but taste a little honey with the
end of the rod that was in mine hand, and lo, I must die. And
Saul answered, God do so and more also, for thou shalt surely
die. And the people said unto Saul,
shall Jonathan die who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel?
God forbid. As the Lord liveth, there shall
not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he hath wrought
with God this day, so the people rescued Jonathan, that he died
not. Now, brethren, we can see substitution
here very clearly. The Lord Jesus Christ tasting
of the wrath of God. That rod that he had represents
the wrath of God being poured out upon his son justly. Justly, the Lord Jesus Christ,
having been made sin for his people, the wrath of God being
poured out upon him so that you and I can have the honey, that
we can have this great salvation. You know why Jonathan didn't
die? Because if we look at the Lord Jesus Christ dying, the
one time when it becomes time for you and I who are guilty
of the law, Christ has already gotten victory for us and therefore
not one hair upon our head can be harmed. because Jonathan,
our Jonathan, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Samson, the Lord
Jesus Christ, hath gotten the victory. The law cannot enact
justice twice. Isaiah 51, 22 says, thus saith
the Lord, thus saith thy Lord, the Lord. I love the way Isaiah
says that. Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord, and thy God, that pleadeth
the cause of his people. Behold, I have taken out of thine
hand the cup of trembling." What was that cup of trembling? It's
the cup that the Lord Jesus Christ drank in the Garden of Gethsemane,
wasn't it? I've taken the cup of your trembling,
that which separated us from God, the sin that we are. He
took that cup, even the dregs of the cup of my fury. Thou shalt
no more drink it again. He drank. of the fury of his
father. He drank of the bitter cup, that
of you and I, our sin unto himself, all the dregs, every last drop. That's what dregs mean. Every
single drop of sin of his people, he drank into himself and God
poured out his wrath upon his son and Christ absorbed the wrath
of God in his person. That's the honey. That is the
sweetest thing you will ever hear if the Lord hath made you
a sinner, to hear that he hath put away your sin by his own
death. This is how he crushed Satan.
He rent him as a kid by his own death. Satan and the Lord, and
I don't mean this disrespectfully, sacrilegiously, or anything else,
but I've seen different men act like it was a boxing match that
took place upon Calvary, that both Satan and the Lord had boxing
gloves on. That's so foolish, isn't it?
That's so silly. God was doing business with God
on the cross of Calvary. Yes, there was whispers There
were no doubt spoken unto the Lord Jesus Christ of the guilt
of the sin that you and I bear, or the sin that we are, that
he was bearing in his body. But it was not a warfare between
Satan and the Lord Jesus Christ. When he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost, he bruised the head of Satan. He ripped him
as a kid, and it was not hard for him to do that. All he did
was honor his father, looking unto him and putting away our
sin. That's how he got the victory for his people. He didn't have
a boxing match with Satan. That's silly. He bruised his
head by giving up the ghost unto his father, by putting away our
sin. That's the honey. That is the
honey of the Lord. We also see Samson likened unto
the father, rending his son in two, don't we, for our sin, pouring
out his wrath. Pouring out his wrath, Christ
Jesus had to die for his people to be given eternal life. Christ Jesus had to be emptied
so that you and I could be filled with the Lord Jesus Christ. We hear the agony of the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross as he asks his father, why hast
thou forsaken me? And brethren, he knew why he
was forsaken at that time. This was for you and I to have
insight into the fact that the Lord was forsaken. When he asked
that question, It's so you and I can see that He was utterly
forsaken so that you and I would never have to be forsaken. He
was condemned so that you and I could be set free. He was made
sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
He's brought us to the land flowing with milk and honey because He
was cut off from the land of the living. We are accepted in
the beloved because He was forsaken He was condemned so that we could
feast. We could feast upon the sweetness
of the Lamb of God. He tasted death. He tasted the
bitterness. He drank the bitterness dry for
his people so that you and I can have this sweet honey. That's
all that we have. I mean, that's all that we need, but don't misunderstand.
There's nothing else. There's no condemnation. There's
no bitterness. There's no wrath. There's just
good news, the honey of the Lord. I would remind us that whenever
the Passover, the very first Passover that took place in Exodus,
the last plague that took place, the death angel was going to
pass by and the Lord warned them and said, take a lamb and take
it, kill it, kill the lamb and take its blood and put it upon
the doorpost and the lintel. And when I pass through the land,
I will slay the first one. But when I see the blood, I will
pass by you. You know what they were eating
inside during that time, those who were behind the blood, They
were eating unleavened bread and bitter herbs. There was nothing sweet about
the Lord's death, naturally speaking. Looking upon it, it was gruesome.
It was ugly as far as man is concerned, but it's the most
beautiful thing to the believer because in his death, is our
life. In his sacrifice is our sanctification. In his putting away of our sin,
making us, that's the only way we could be made righteous before
the Lord is that he would taste this bitterness. Leviticus chapter
two, verse 11 tells us something of this. As he's given ordinances
unto the Levites for sacrifice, he says, no meat offering. which
he shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven. That
leaven, anytime the scripture talks of in first Corinthians,
he talks about a little leaven level with the whole lump. It
may be just yeast to some people, but what it's likened them to
is our sin. If there is one iota of sin upon us, we have leavened
the whole lump. We are utterly sinful. If we've ever transgressed
against the law one time, we've completely transgressed the law
of God. So we can't have any leaven whatsoever. So he says,
when you approach, you can't have any leaven whatsoever. A
little leaven leveled up the whole lump. And he says, you
shall not bring a sacrifice unto the Lord, meat offering made
with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in an
offering unto the Lord made by fire. There's nothing sweet in
his death, figuratively, physically speaking. But boy, it's the sweetest
thing that's ever happened in history, that's ever going to
happen. It's the reason the earth was created. It was created for
the cross. It was created for the Lord salvation
of his people. And that is the sweetness of
the honey and putting away our sin. He was offered as a sweet
smelling savor unto the father, his death, his burial, his resurrection
shows forth that we were made perfectly righteous in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's why it's beautiful to
the elect. Men want to add something to
the death of Christ often, but not the believer. It's beautiful
the way that it is, isn't it? It tastes perfect the way that
it is to us. It's what we desire more than
anything is to taste and see that the Lord is good. There's
no glory in it for us and we love it that way. Now in closing,
turn with me to Matthew chapter 27. Matthew 27, verse 45. Now, from the sixth hour, there
was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about
the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, which is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Now look down at verse 50. Jesus,
when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the
ghost and behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain
from top to bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks rent. And the graves were opened and
many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of the
graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city and
appeared unto many. Brethren, we see that in the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan has been rent in two. And
even the Lord Jesus Christ being the line of the tribe of Judah,
he had to die and be written to for you and I to have this
honey. But did you know that the honey is literally what was
behind the veil that separated us from God? And when he had
bowed his head, bowed his mighty head upon Calvary's tree, and
he yielded up the ghost, it says he rent that veil. That's something
else that was rent that day. The separation that we had between
us and God, he rent it so that we could taste of this honey,
so that we could be partakers of this great salvation, so that
we could enter boldly into the throne of grace, having obtained
mercy, and to find grace to help us in the time of need. This
is why in Isaiah 55, he says, ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, And he that hath no money, come ye buy
and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. It's already been bought. It's
already been purchased. The honey of the Lord was purchased
by the blood of Christ and given unto his people. This is the
good news of the gospel. This is the sweetest substance
that's ever going to be for the Lord's people is the Lord Jesus
Christ and his finished work. He hath ransomed us by His death. That word ransom means obtain
the release of a prisoner by making a payment demanded. He's
ransomed us. He's made the payment for us
so that we would be released. He's redeemed us. That means
to gain or regain possession of in exchange for payment. The
payment that the Lord gave has made us His possession. He owns us by His own blood.
We have been made righteous in God's eyes. We've been made morally
right. We have been made justified. We have been made virtuous in
his death. This is why in Psalm 34, verse
eight, I've already quoted this two or three times, I believe
today, but it says, oh, taste, oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. He's sweeter than honey out of
the honeycomb, amen. Father, thank you as our Samson,
putting away our sin and the sacrifice of yourself, rending
Satan, allowing your body to be broken for us, as you said
into your disciples and giving us your honey, Lord, which is
the sweetness of your gospel in salvation. Pray that you would
remind us of this and cause us to look unto Christ. It's in
his name we pray. Amen.